The Story of Prague (1920)/Chapter 4

by František Lützow

CHAPTER IV

Palaces

PRAGUE, the winter residence of the wealthy and powerful Bohemian nobility, is a city of palaces, but it will here be sufficient to mention those only that have considerable historical or artistic interest.

As has already been mentioned, many of the palaces of Prague were built in the last years of the Thirty Years’ War, or in the immediately subsequent period. Such are the Nostic Palace in the Graben or Příkopy, the great Waldstein Palace, the palace of Count Clam-Gallas, which will be mentioned presently, the Cernin Palace on the Hradcany, now converted into barracks, and many others.

Of the palaces that are situated on the right bank of the Vltava, the most interesting is the Kinsky Palace, which was built in the eighteenth century according to the plans of the architect Luragho. It contains an extensive library, particularly rich in works concerning the French revolutionary period—of these there are 17,470—a valuable collection of engravings, and the archives of the family of the Princes Kinsky. The celebrated Bohemian poet, Celakovsky, for some time held the post of librarian here.

The only other palace on the right bank of the Vltava which I shall mention is that of the Count Clam-Gallas, a handsome building that also dates from the eighteenth century. It originally belonged to Count Gallas, a descendant of one of Wallenstein’s generals. By one of history’s little ironies the palace was, in 1866, for a time the residence of the Prussian prince Charles, while the Count Clam-Gallas, to whom the palace then belonged, was one of the Austrian leaders in the disastrous campaign of that year.

GATE OF THE CLAM-GALLAS PALACE

Far more numerous are the palaces on the left bank of the Vltava in the Malá Strana and Hradcany districts, which constitutes what may be called the Faubourg St. Germain of Prague. In some of the short and narrow streets in this part of the town there were—as in mediæval Italy—sometimes several palaces of one family from which the street took its name. We still meet with names such as the Thun Street and the Waldstein Street.

But of all these palaces the one that deserves fullest notice is the Royal castle on the Hradcany. According to the chronicler Cosmos, there was, in the eleventh century, already a castle (in Bohemian, ‘hrad’) on the spot where the present palace stands. This earliest building was soon destroyed, and that which succeeded it was burnt down in 1303.

When Charles IV. first arrived at Prague he found the Royal castle, as he himself noted, ‘deserted, ruined, almost levelled to the ground.’ He was indeed at first obliged to accept the hospitality of a citizen of the old town. Charles, who delighted in building, and particularly in adorning his favourite city, Prague, immediately decided to rebuild the castle. He is said to have resolved to imitate the Louvre Palace, as he had seen it in Paris. In consequence of the many civil wars, hardly any traces of Charles’s castle, of which the old writers have given a most striking description, can now be found. Charles strongly fortified his castle in the direction of the Malá Strana. The steep access to the Hradcany in that direction is a remnant of these fortifications. During the [[Portal:Hussite Wars}} the castle was used as a fortress, and it suffered greatly during those wars. The castle was greatly injured during the two sieges (1420 and 1421), when Sigismund’s troops were here besieged by the Praguers, but its fate was far worse after Sigismund’s troops had been forced to capitulate. The citizens rushed into the castle resolved to entirely demolish the stronghold of the hated King Sigismund. The town magistrates and the nobles, allied with the Praguers, succeeded indeed in averting the complete destruction of the time-honoured castle, but it was greatly damaged. After the end of the Hussite War, Sigismund, during his short reign, undertook some repairs, but the castle remained uninhabited.

The Bohemian Kings, since the time of Wenceslas, resided in the old town on the right bank of the Vltava. This continued up to the reign of Vladislav II. That King, who resided in the buildings known as the Kraluv Dvur, near the powder tower, intimidated by the menaces of his turbulent neighbours, the citizens of the old town, resolved to transfer his residence to the left bank of the Vltava. He crossed the river in a boat at night-time, and sought refuge behind the strong walls of the dilapidated Hradcany, and began to build there a new Royal residence. Some of the oldest parts of the existent building date from his time. Large additions were made by Ferdinand I., Matthias and Rudolph.

Rudolph, like Charles IV., chose Prague as his permanent residence, and he is the last King of Bohemia who lived continuously in his capital. His artistic and scientific tastes, to which reference has already been made, caused him to feel a great desire for solitude. He generally lived in the north wing of the castle, where he established an observatory and vast laboratories for chemical research. On the other hand, he appears to have neglected the portion of the castle that had been built by Vladislav II. He even allowed the far-famed hall of Vladislav-to be turned into a ‘bazaar where various tradesmen exhibited their wares and met to discuss their business.’ Sadeler’s engraving—reproduced in this volume—gives a good idea of the appearance of Vladislav’s hall at this period.

Rudolph accumulated in the Hradcany Castle vast collections, which have long since been dispersed. Though they were plundered by the Saxons in 1632, and again by the Swedes in 1648, many works of art seem still to have remained, for a sale was held as late as in 1782, when Joseph II. intended to turn the Hradcany Castle into barracks.

Since Rudolph’s time the rulers of Bohemia have but rarely inhabited the Hradcany for any considerable time, though Maria Theresa caused it to be largely rebuilt after the buildings had suffered very much from the Prussian bombardment. Her son Joseph II., as already mentioned, proposed turning the vast agglomeration of buildings on the Hradcany hill into barracks, but the plan was never carried out. From his abdication in 1848 to the year of his death, the Emperor Ferdinand inhabited the Hradcany Palace, and the gifted Crown Prince Rudolph resided here for some time. More recently the reigning Emperor has, in 1891 and 1901, received the nobility of Bohemia in the Hradcany Castle.

The vast and imposing Hradcany Palace has the greatest historical interest, and well deserves the attention of the visitor. We enter the first of the three courtyards from the Hradcany Square, famous as the site of the executions that preceded the meeting of the ‘bloody diet.’ The first courtyard is divided by a railing from the square, and is entered by a gateway embellished by four colossal mythological statues by Platzer. The buildings surrounding this first court are modernised dwelling-rooms, sometimes inhabited by members of the Imperial family. Passing through a portal, built by King Matthias in 1614, we enter the second court. It is considerably larger than the first one. Immediately opposite the portal is the Chapel of the Holy Cross, which dates from the seventeenth century, but has been frequently altered. It was thoroughly restored and modernised (1852–1858) during the time that the late Emperor Ferdinand resided in the castle. In the north wing of this court
THE HALL OF VLADISLAV IN THE HRADCANY CASTLE are the so-called German and Spanish halls. They were built during the reign of the Emperor Ferdinand I. The former for a time contained the famed collections of Rudolph; the latter lias, since the time of the Empress Maria Theresa, occasionally been used for court functions. Balls were given here during the stay of the Crown Prince Rudolph, and the reigning Emperor has several times here received the representatives of Bohemia.

We now enter the third court, where we see, to our left, St. Vitus’s Cathedral, while to the right is the most interesting part of the palace—that which dates from the time of King Vladislav. It was built between 1484 and 1502 by the celebrated architect Benes, of Loun, in what is known in Bohemia as the Vladislav style, a transition between Gothic and the style of the Renaissance. Benes was, with Matthew Reysek, the originator of this style of architecture, to which many of the most interesting buildings in Prague belong. Here is the ‘hall of Vladislav,’ where the Bohemian nobles did homage to their Sovereign after his coronation, and where the coronation banquet was held. When finished—in 1502—the hall of Vladislav excited general admiration. A contemporary chronicler writes that ‘there was no building like it in all Europe, none that was longer, higher and broader, and yet had no pillars.’

Historically very interesting is the chamber where the Bohemian Estates met up to 1848. It clearly indicates their relative position. While the nobles and the clergy (who only after the Battle of the White Mountain became one of the Estates) occupied benches to the left and right of the throne, the few town representatives were placed on an isolated platform surrounded by a wooden railing. In this part of the Hradcany, also, is the old council chamber, the scene of the famous defenestration of 1618.

Of the other palaces in this part of Prague, the Waldstein Palace—in the square of that name—first deserves notice. The building dates from the time of the great Wallenstein, who began its construction shortly after the Battle of the White Mountain. To make room for the foundations of the vast edifice 23^[1] houses were demolished. The building was finished in 1630, and, after the death of the Duke of Friedland, it was given by the Emperor to his chamberlain, Maximilian of Waldstein. It has ever since continued in the possession of that branch of the Waldstein family. It has a very fine Renaissance hall, a chapel with paintings attributed to divers Italian painters, and extensive gardens that are the finest at Prague.

In the Thun Street is the palace of Count Oswald Thun, which contains some good pictures and some very fine porcelain. In the steep Ostruhova Ulice are the palaces of Count Francis Thun, the Morzin Palace, which has a very fine façade, and many others. On the Hradcany Place, opposite the Royal residence, is the vast Schwarzenberg—formerly Rosenberg—Palace. The Fürstenberg and Lobkovic Palaces also deserve mention.
THE MOST ANCIENT SHIELD
OF THE OLD TOWN

 

1. Not 100, as stated in Murray’s Guide Book.